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Family Mourns Team USA Triathlete Spencer Korwin After Shelter Island Drowning
Spencer Korwin, 38, drowned after setting out for a morning swim from the Pridwin Hotel dock while vacationing with his wife and two young daughters. At his funeral Sunday, his family spoke about the husband, father and athlete behind the tragedy.
Family and friends gathered Sunday to mourn former Team USA triathlete Spencer Korwin, the 38-year-old Manhattan father of two who drowned Wednesday after setting out for a morning swim from the Pridwin Hotel dock on Shelter Island.
“This is a nightmare. This is the worst day of my life,” his wife, Carly Korwin, said at the funeral service at Temple Israel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, according to the New York Post. “I can’t accept that this is real and that Spencer is not going to come home.”
Carly spoke about Korwin as a devoted husband and father to their daughters, Sadie, 4, and Colette, 1, recalling the notes he would leave for his wife and children and the twice-daily automated texts he sent to remind her that he loved her.
“We always said forever isn’t long enough,” she said.
Korwin’s parents, Paul and Pam, also spoke at the service, sharing memories of their son’s mischievous side and lifelong penchant for pranks.
“He was fearless. He was crafty,” his father, Paul, said.
Following the service, family and friends gathered outside the temple as Korwin’s casket was carried out.
A GoFundMe in Spencer Korwin’s Memory
An online fundraiser established for Korwin’s two young daughters has also drawn an outpouring of support, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars toward their future education.
The GoFundMe, “In Memory of Spencer Korwin,” was organized by Josh Grosbard and Jeffrey Witten after friends and members of the community asked how they could support the family.
“Spencer was a beloved husband, father, son, brother, and friend,” the organizers wrote. “He was the sun around which so many of our lives orbited.”
Organizers said contributions will go toward the future education of Sadie and Colette and serve as a reminder to the girls as they grow older of how deeply their father was loved.
Korwin had been staying at the Pridwin Hotel on Shelter Island with his wife and daughters when he set out for a swim around 8 a.m. Sept. 2.
When he failed to return several hours later, his wife alerted hotel staff, who contacted emergency services.
Assessing the Water Currents
Shelter Island Town Police, the Shelter Island Fire Department and Shelter Island Town Emergency Medical Services responded shortly after noon and launched an extensive search of the Crescent Beach-North Channel area and surrounding waterways.
The search involved marine and air units, with a Southold Town Police dive team ultimately locating Korwin underwater near the hotel dock around 3 p.m. — approximately seven hours after he had entered the water.
Shelter Island Police Det. Sgt. Jack Thilberg said the drowning is believed to have been accidental and no criminality is suspected. The investigation remains open, with the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office expected to determine the official cause and manner of death.
Korwin’s death has also drawn attention to the conditions swimmers can encounter in the waters surrounding Shelter Island.
“There wasn’t anything unusual,” John Kirincic, a master mariner with the Southold Town Police Department’s Marine One, told the Shelter Island Reporter of the conditions that day. “There was no fog or anything bad.”
Kirincic said, however, that currents in the area can be strong because of the narrow passage through which the tide flows.
Shelter Island Police Chief Jim Read told the Shelter Island Reporter that the area near the Pridwin is not generally considered hazardous but cautioned that these are open waters, where tides, currents and boat traffic are always considerations.
Officials have not determined whether currents, tides or other water conditions played a role in Korwin’s death.
An Accomplished Athlete with Ties to the East End
Korwin was an accomplished endurance athlete with ties to the East End. He qualified for Team USA in 2012 and competed at the Triathlon World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand. He also earned first-place finishes at the Montauk Point Lighthouse Triathlon and the Mighty Montauk Sprint Triathlon.
A 2010 graduate of Syracuse University, Korwin went on to build a career in fitness and athletic performance and became a Gatorade-sponsored athlete. He also operated an outdoor summer camp for children in Southampton in 2020.
In 2021, he founded Korwin Health & Wellness, a personalized fitness and holistic health company.
Korwin is survived by his wife, Carly, and their daughters, Sadie and Colette.
